LEXINGTON, Ky. – One week after announcing linebacker Jordan Jones would not be suspended for Kentucky’s bowl game for his behavior in the loss to Louisville, UK coach Mark Stoops offered additional details about what he needs to see from Jones moving forward.

"I expect him to participate in the bowl game," Stoops said Tuesday at his first news conference since the end of the season. "To what extent or how much and all that? I’m not ready to make any decisions on all that right now. ...

"He’s got to be consistent in it, and it can’t be at the cost of the players and the people around him. He knows that. He works hard at it. He’s improved in a lot of areas."

Jones and Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson sparked a fight in the first half of the regular-season finale. Jackson shoved Jones, who had appeared to bump his helmet against Jackson after the play was finished, and Jones shoved back before eventually tackling Jackson to the ground as players from both teams joined the fray.

Later in the game, Jones was flagged for personal fouls on consecutive plays. Cameras also caught Jones arguing with UK coaches on the sideline and walking away from a team huddle.

Jones made negative headlines earlier this season when cameras caught him spitting toward the crowd from the sideline of UK’s opener at Southern Mississippi. He was not suspended for that incident but was held from the starting lineup a week later against Eastern Kentucky.

While noting he did not want to rehash the events of the Louisville game, Stoops went out of his way Tuesday to note Jones’ behavior was “unacceptable and that’s not going to happen and that’s not a part of our program.”

"There’s parts of it with Jordan or any player that sometimes it’s easy just to say the easy thing to do to save my reputation is just get rid of players, but that’s not what I’m going to do," Stoops said. "This is not about me and what people perceive me as. Just kicking kids to the curb or getting rid of them or dismissing them, that’s the easy thing to do sometimes. The hard thing to do is continue to work with them and develop them and making them a very constructive piece of our program and society, because that’s what I told them I would do when I recruited them.

"I know Jordan’s background and where he comes from and the difficulties and the struggles that he’s had. That doesn’t make it an excuse, but it means something to me to not just kick him to the curb and continue to help him grow and become the young man I know he can be."